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Old 11-11-2015, 05:23 AM
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spit.fire spit.fire is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2011
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ok so ive been asked alot about how i make such large branching rock structures without them collapsing.... so here is my quick and dirty guide to super awesome macdaddy rockwork



Step one
Get inspiration (look at bonsai trees, best place to get ideas imo)

Step two
Pick your rock, doesnt matter what it looks like, the plan is to not see it after you coat it in your corals (i cheat, there was about 200lbs of bleached and acid dipped rock in my garage)

Step three
Find a sturdy base, the base will be what will determine how far you can go with your ideas, the heavier the better as it is what will balance everything

Step four
Start by drilling holes and zap strapping everything together, using anything you can to prop up your structure, the idea here is to make it as strong as possible with the zap straps, dont be afraid to use alot of them

Step five
After you have a structure you're happy with, start filling the gaps between each rock with my special concrete (or other brands, i dont care....) dont be shy with it, the stuff i use grows coraline and corals like crazy so it gets hidden in no time. Also cover any visible zap straps with concrete to hide them








And a bunch of pics of my paludarium





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